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Maharashtra today reported four cases of the highly transmissible Omicron variant, taking the total case count of the 'variant of concern' in the state to 454.
With Mumbai continuing to produce a tidal wave of cases believed to be fuelled by Omicron, beaches, sea faces, promenades, parks and other public places of the metropolis have been made off-limits to the general public between 5 pm to 5 am till January 15.
Large gatherings have also been banned under an order of the Mumbai Police which came into force from 1 pm today and will remain till January 15, unless withdrawn earlier, senior police officer S Chaitanya said.
Fearing a third wave of the coronavirus, Mumbai's civic body has reactivated its ward-level war rooms to tackle the surge. The War Rooms will manage hospital admissions, oxygen and medicine requirements and vaccination
On Thursday, Maharashtra reported 5,368 new coronavirus infections in the last 24 hours, 37 per cent higher than the day before. Of them, 198 were Omicron. Mumbai too saw a massive 46 per cent jump with 3,671 infections. At 190, the city also registered most of the state's new Omicron patients.
At Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray's meeting with the state's Covid task force yesterday, one of the key discussions was on the new variant that is believed to be driving up the infections in the state and across the globe. Maharashtra has the highest overall cases of Omicron in the country.
Mumbai has seen a five-fold increase in daily cases over the last week - the city had logged 683 infections last Friday.
At least 37 per cent of the Covid samples collected in Mumbai between December 21 and December 22 were detected to be of the Omicron variant and none has any history of travel, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said on Friday.
Maharashtra is among the eight states that the Centre had written to on Thursday urging them to take immediate measures to check the sudden surge. "Take steps now to avoid increased mortality," was the Centre's advice, sources had said.
Currently, there are 24,509 active cases of coronavirus in Maharashtra, with 16,441 in Mumbai alone. 1,75,592 people are in home quarantine and 1,079 in institutional quarantine.
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